Two business executives — including one from the Treasure Coast — each were sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted for their roles in a years-long scheme to steal from the Affordable Care Act program, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Cory Lloyd, 46, of Stuart, former president of Fiorella Insurance Agency, and Steven Strong, 42, of Mansfield, Texas had been convicted by a federal jury in West Palm Beach on Nov. 17, 2025, for their involvement in a scheme to get millions of dollars in commission payments from insurance companies, according to the news release.
They were involved in a fraud scheme to get over $233 million in fraudulent Affordable Care Act plan subsidies, according to the release. They preyed on tens of thousands of consumers to enroll them improperly into fully subsidized ACA plans — for which Lloyd and Strong earned millions of dollars in commission payments from insurance companies.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, they engaged in an extensive fraud scheme that sought over $233 million in fraudulent ACA plan subsidies for which the federal government paid at least $180 million, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Lloyd and Strong targeted vulnerable, low-income individuals experiencing homelessness, unemployment and mental health and substance abuse disorders, according to the news release. Through “street marketers” working on their behalf, they sometimes offered bribes to induce those individuals to enroll in subsidized ACA plans.
They submitted false and fraudulent applications for people whose income didn’t meet the minimum requirements to be eligible for the subsidies, according to the news release.
As a result, some of these consumers experienced serious disruptions in their medical care or their prior insurance coverage under Medicaid or other programs, according to the news release. These people were put at risk of losing access to life-saving treatments for opioid use disorders, mental health disorders and serious infectious diseases.
Lloyd received commissions and other payments from an insurance company in exchange for enrolling consumers in the ACA plans, according to the news release. In turn, he paid commissions to Strong in exchange for consumer referrals. To maximize these commission payments, Lloyd and Strong used misleading sales scripts and other deceptive sales techniques to convince consumers to say they would attempt to earn the minimum income necessary to qualify for a subsidized ACA plan, even when the consumer initially stated to insurance agents that they had no income.
Lloyd and Strong also conspired to bypass the federal government’s attempts to verify income and other information and deliberately submitted thousands of applications to Medicaid for various people in a way that guaranteed their denial so that they could sign up these same consumers for a fully subsidized ACA plan outside of the open enrollment period and therefore maximize their commissions year-round, according to the news release.
They used money from the scheme to purchase luxury homes, according to the release, including a waterfront home in the Florida Keys, an 80-foot yacht and a Tesla.
Lloyd and Strong each were convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Strong also was convicted of two counts of money laundering, according to the release.
In addition to their sentencing of 20 years in prison each, they also were ordered to pay $180.6 million in restitution.
A third defendant, Dafud Iza, formerly vice president of Fiorella Insurance Agency in Stuart, pleaded guilty in April to his role in the scheme and was sentenced to 35 months in prison, according to the news release.
Iza could have faced more years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, according to insurancejournal.com, but because he accepted responsibility, pleaded guilty and provided information about others involved, the judge deemed a 35-month sentence appropriate,
Laurie K. Blandford is a breaking news reporter with TCPalm. Email her at laurie.blandford@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Florida and Texas executives sentenced for stealing from ACA program
Reporting by Laurie K. Blandford, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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